Calcium levels over 600.......what is best to do?

[The Grizz]

So my calcium test kit must have been hooped when I first tested my calcium levels. It read 380 so I added some more & picked up a new Red Sea Pro kit for Cal, Mag & Alk yesterday while I was in Calgary. I tested my levels again last night, mag was 1400, Alk was 10.4 but my calcium was 600+.

What is the best coarse of action now? There is nothing in the tank yet but rock & sand. I am hoping to be able to move all my fish over to the new tank next weekend as long as I don't have an ammonia spike.

Any advise would be helpful.

[BlueTang<3]

Add more corals they will gobble that up.

[Werbo]

Stir your sand 2x a day otherwise it will turn to concrete-ish if your Ca is really 600+

[Aquattro]

Big water change. Before you need to take Tyler's advice :)

[The Grizz]

Add more corals they will gobble that up.

Are you saying Wes not to worry about it & to just let it go down naturally buy consumption?

Stir your sand 2x a day otherwise it will turn to concrete-ish if your Ca is really 600+

My cal is really that high and it has not affected the sand one bit

[Aquattro]

My cal is really that high and it has not affected the sand one bit

Not an overnight thing, but will eventually happen if left too long. I know, I pulled a sand bed out of my 90 in three large pieces :)

Other than that, not a huge problem, minus potential damage to pumps in the long term, but if you add a lot of coral, it will eventually go down.
But, a water change is a quick and easy fix.

[The Grizz]

Going to try a water rotation with my other tank as I know the calcium level is low in it.

[reeferfulton]

Wait!!

Do a Google search for red sea pro calcium text kit recall.

I bought the same kit a month back and got the bad calcium reagent ( as per the recall)
It read from 50-75 high.
I have since got a new red sea reagent.
I still find that it reads about 20 higher then salient fyi
Hope that's your issue

[The Grizz]

Wait!!

Do a Google search for red sea pro calcium text kit recall.

I bought the same kit a month back and got the bad calcium reagent ( as per the recall)
It read from 50-75 high.
I have since got a new red sea reagent.
I still find that it reads about 20 higher then salient fyi
Hope that's your issue

Not the issue, checked the lot # and it is not in the list of recalled regents. Also tested with an API & Elos kits.

Did a water relocation between my big tanks and got it down to 500 now.

[reeferfulton]

Awe shucks.

[Smudge]

I just went through the same thing with my Red Sea Test Kit. My readings were 380 and I was increasing my dosing. In the end I was well over 500 and my kit still read 380. I stopped dosing and it took over 2 weeks for the level to drop to 400. New Red Sea Test kit compares to my Salifert one now. Mine was not in the recall range as well.

[The Grizz]

I just went through the same thing with my Red Sea Test Kit. My readings were 380 and I was increasing my dosing. In the end I was well over 500 and my kit still read 380. I stopped dosing and it took over 2 weeks for the level to drop to 400. New Red Sea Test kit compares to my Salifert one now. Mine was not in the recall range as well.

I would suspect the Red Sea kit if my other kits readings where different but they where exactly the same.

Tested again after my water swap with all 3 kits, all read 500.

Also checked the expire date on all the kits as well, not even close to the date of expire.

Will do another water swap tomorrow night.

[don.ald]

What salt brand are you using?

I am setting up a new system using IO and have high readings.

[neoh]

From my understanding, high levels of calcium do not cause adverse effects on anything except on inverts. Corals can only absorb so much. With a high alkalinity, it can be a problem - but if your alkalinity is fine, I don't think there is much to worry about, except for calcification doing damage to pumps and equipment.

If you do a dramatic decline in calcium, you would also see a decline in alk.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php

You are much more educated on the subject than I am. However; the article above might help your mind ease regarding the increase.

[The Grizz]

What salt brand are you using?

I am setting up a new system using IO and have high readings.

Using Reef Crystals as always :biggrin: